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Death Penalty: Essay Against the Use of Capital Punishment

Uploaded by obcd21212 on Jun 09, 2005

Death Penalty: Essay Against the Use of Capital Punishment

The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. It denies criminals their natural born right to life. The first established death penalty laws date as far back as the Eighteenth Century B.C. Death sentences were carried out by such means as crucifixion, drowning, beating to death, burning alive, and impalement. In the Tenth Century A.D., hanging became the usual method of execution in Britain. The number of capital crimes in Britain continued to rise throughout the next two centuries. By the 1700s, 222 crimes were punishable by death in Britain. Britain influenced America's use of the death penalty more than any other country. When European settlers came to the new world, they brought the practice of capital punishment. The plague of our current society. The death penalty should be abolished because it has never been shown to deter crimes more effectively than other punishments, there are serious economic consequences, and it involves a heightened risk of error.

First, the death penalty has never been shown to deter crimes more effectively than other punishments. Recent studies in Oklahoma and California failed to find that capital punishment had a deterrent effect on violent crime and, in fact, found a significant increase in stranger killings and homicide rates after the death penalty had been reinstated. Most people who commit murders either do not expect to be caught or do not carefully weigh the differences between a possible execution and life in prison before they commit the act. These murders are most often committed in moments of blinding anger or passion.

Furthermore, there are serious economic consequences. Various state governments estimate that a single death penalty case, from the point of arrest to execution, ranges from $1 million to $3 million per case. Other studies have estimated the cost to be as high as $7 million. The millions of dollars spent on capital punishment cuts into resources for other community interests, such as schools, hospitals, public safety, and jobs. For example, Taxpayers in Florida are spending an average of $2.3 million on each execution which is over six times what it would cost for life without parole. In addition, New York brought back the death penalty in 1995, even though the department of corrections estimated that it would cost over $2 million per case and approximately $118 million annually. That same year, state leaders...